The music concert will be held at Central Park…

A unique 24-hour Indian classical music marathon, the Ragas Live Festival, with a multi-national and multi-ethnic cast of over 60 musicians is set to be broadcast this weekend here and streamed live on the Internet for listeners around the world. It is billed as longest broadcast of Indian classical performed live. “From what I understand, even in India, they have not produced in-studio broadcasts on this scale,” Executive Producer David Ellenbogen said.

This is the fourth Raga Festival and this year it will add a six-and-a-half-hour free concert at the Central Park on Sunday, which is the day of the Summer Solstice. Sunday is also International Day of Yoga when there will be a yoga session in Times Square with the expected participation of 30,000 people. The Raga Festival is not a part of that program, but it also reflects the growing interest in Indian culture here.

“We are experiencing a raga renaissance in New York City,” Ellenbogen said. “There are so many amazing musicians collaborating within and beyond the genre. This festival is a result of that and has gained a growing international audience.” The festival is a collaboration between Columbia University radio station WKCR 89.9 FM-NY and 13 other organisations.

The marathon will be streamed live on www.wkcr.org and it will be archived at the station’s website and at www.nycradiolive.org for listeners to hear it later. A vocal by Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan will start the marathon broadcast, at 11:59 p.m. Friday night New York Time (Saturday, 9:29 a.m. IST) and will end at midnight Saturday (Sunday, 9:30 a.m. IST) with a vocal by Pandita Tripti Mukherjee.

Among the featured musicians are Ustad Aashish Khan, Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, Pandit Krishna Bhatt, Sanghamitra Chatterjee, and Pandit Samir Chatterjee. Besides Hindustani and Carnatic classical music, the new genres and the collaboration across traditions that are emerging in New York will be represented at the festival.

Yacouba Sissoko from Mali who plays the kora, a 21-string instrument from West Africa, is to perform with Jay Gandhi on the bansuri and Ellenbogen on the guitar. Sissko and Bansuri perform at the monthly Africa/India Collaboration concerts produced at Brooklyn Raga Massive events.

Carnatic compositions in jazz interpretations by Arun Ramamurthy Trio (ART) and Chamber Raga form by Karavika are also on the programme.

]]>ArticleIn Wazir, John Abraham and Neil Nitin Mukesh to be seen together for the third time!http://www.bollywoodlife.com/news-gossip/in-wazir-john-abraham-and-neil-nitin-mukesh-to-be-seen-together-for-the-third-time/
Thu, 04 Jun 2015 17:50:21 +0000Prateek Surhttp://www.bollywoodlife.com/?p=517478

This Farhan Akhtar-Amitabh Bachchan movie is creating a lot of buzz all thanks to its dhamakedaar teasers…

Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar maybe coming onscreen together for the first time in Wazir, but the two have worked previously—in Lakshya. Similarly, John Abraham and Neil Nitin Mukesh will be coming together onscreen for the third time in Wazir. The two actors have an important cameo in the Amitabh Bachchan-Farhan Akhtar starrer film. Interesting, hai na?

Neil and John have previously played the best of friends in Kabir Khan’s New York. They were once again together in Saat Khoon Maaf, where both played husbands to Priyanka Chopra. Now they will be seen again in Wazir.

While Neil plays the character with the grey shade and will be seen pertinently as the villain of the movie, on the other hand John will be seen as a fellow ATS officer of Farhan Akhtar. From what the promo looks like John’s character might die in the due course of the movie and that may be the instigating factor for Farhan to go up against Neil. To add to this, Farhan’s wife Aditi Rao Hydari was also murdered by Neil. So a lot of hurt on Farhan’s perspective and a lot of angst against Neil.

The teaser of the film has got people to expect more and more out of this film. We are dying to watch any glimpse of this Bejoy Nambiar directorial. What about you BollywoodLifers?

“Fitoor is shaping up well. We will be wrapping up the shoot in about three weeks. It has been pretty much start to finish job because I have coloured my hair red for the film so the continuity was needed. It is nice to shoot a film in succession. I am hoping we wrap it on time and get a good release date,” Katrina said.

The romantic drama film is based on Charles Dickens’ novel “Great Expectation” and also stars veteran actress Rekha.

Katrina is happy to be a part of the movie as she finds her character interesting and feels she can portray it with conviction.

“I relate to a lot of things about my character. She is in denial of many things. She does not really know herself. She is also trained to think a certain way.

“Sometimes it happens you start living a certain way without even knowing if it is the right thing. It is a very interesting character and Abhishek has a very different take on it. I think I can understand this person and convey her across,” the actress said.

Wondering if the Highway actress will quit Bollywood? Well, read on to find out…

Alia Bhatt has certainly had a dream run in Bollywood so far. From her debut film Student Of The Year, to three hits in a year – 2 States, Highway and Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, Karan Johar’s protege has made him very proud with her successful stint. But, Alia plans to attend school now! Yes, Mahesh Bhatt’s darling daughter is all set for a body language course in New York!

Alia, has two very interesting projects - Shandaar and Udta Punjab lined up this year. And the young actress fears that she would get repetitive in her acts. Hence, she has decided to work on her body language.

Alia isn’t the first actress to attend school. Kangana Ranaut too had attended a two month long screenplay writing classes at the New York Film Academy.

Looks like being a Bollywood heroine is not only about looking good and smiling pretty anymore.

So the love birds have finally met and it’s New Years calling in!

That, Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif will ring in the New Year together is known to all. Their plan was to celebrate Christmas with their respective families and then meet up for the New Year celebrations. And accordingly, Katrina went to London for Christmas first and is now joined in by beau Ranbir in New York for New Year’s Eve.

Here’s a picture that’s come from their recent outing in NYC. They were out on a random shopping spree when a couple of fans got lucky to grab a moment with the Rockstar and shared it on a micro-blogging site. Katrina wasn’t willing to get clicked, the reason being that she’s been feeling a little under the weather, or maybe she’s just being her coy self.

The duo will bring in the 1st at The Big Apple and are said to return back only after a week or two.Watch out this space for more updates on this lovie dovie couple!

The newlyweds took their recent trip to New York and here’s how we broke into their private moments…

It was recently that we had flooded you with starry pictures of Salman Khan’s sister Arpita Khan’s wedding with her Mr. Right, Aayush Sharma. The celebrated do was boasted being no less than a film starring an ensemble of most of our Bollywood bigwigs. But with all that done, how about sneaking into their honeymoon tour this time?

Oh yes! It’s here! Our newlyweds have taken a long trip to New York and their Instagram account is loaded with an overdose of lovie-dovie shares. From hugs to kisses, Salman’s sister indeed seems to be having a happy married life. In fact, the captions are more eye-grabby for the fact that we have a constant hashtag trending across stuff like- #myhubby, #happywifehappylife, #Iloveyou…Too much love, no?

However, this isn’t the first time we have come across such pictures of the two. Earlier too, when reports of Aayush and Arpita’s affair had spilled out in news, we had such similar snaps paring evidences to prove their love back then.

But of course, with love remaining constant, do check out these new pics and share your love in the comments!

Here’s taking a look at films that borrowed their names from geographical locations…

Geography has always had a very crucial role to play in Bollywood. Be it using scenic locations as backdrops or borrowing names from places, we’ve seen it all. It could be just a fad or to intrigue the audience or it might be representing the movie on more than one level as is the case with the most recent Varun Dhawan film, Badlapur. That the story is set in Badlapur could be one of the reasons but it also highlights the main theme of the film – Badla (Revenge). Whatever the reason, we have quite an extensive list of place inspired movie names. Here’s enumerating a few:

New York: Starring John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irrfan Khan and Katrina Kaif, this Kabir Khan directed film was well appreciated by fans and audiences. The story revolved around a terrorist attack in New York, and naming the movie thus did proper justice.

Shanghai: Starring Emraan Hashmi, Abhay Deol, Prosenjit Chatterjee and Kalki Koechlin, this film was based on a quote given by a famous politician who said he would make Indian cities like Shanghai in the next two years and how it isn’t possible. A little misleading we would say.

Bombay: Starring Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala, the story of this Mani Ratnam film was set in the Bombay riots of 1984. Looks’s like Kabir Khan took a leaf out of this one.

London Paris New York: This sure is an overdose of geography lessons. Starring Ali Zafar and Aditi Rao Hydari, this film was a typical rom com. The two lead actors fall in love with each other after having met at these three locations.

Delhi-6: This one went a step ahead from the regular city names and even acquaints you with the precise location within the city. For all those who are not familiar with Delhi, 6 is the pin code for Chandni Chowk, where the movie has been set. That, however, is the only relation the name has top the rest of the film since the story is about the snowball effect superstitions have.

We also have a lot of other names like Shootout at Lokhandawala and Shootout at Wadala that make it very clear as to what we can expect from the film. Then there are Delhi Belly, Chandni Chowk To China, Namstey London, Go Goa Gone which are more confusing than helpful.

The announcement was made on Thursday at a press conference

Victoria Beckham has been appointed UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador.

The announcement was made Thursday at a press conference during the 69th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, which runs from Sep 16 to Oct 1, Xinhua reported.

“This is the beginning of an important journey for me. As a woman and a mother I have a responsibility to support other women,” Beckham said.

“I am proud and honoured to be working with UNAIDS in this new role to help to raise resources and awareness to support and empower women and children affected by HIV.”

In her new role as an ambassador for UNAIDS, Beckham will work toward ensuring that all children are born free from HIV and that children and women who are living with and affected by HIV have access to medicines and care.

In February, Beckham had visited HIV clinics in Cape Town, South Africa, where she learned about the importance of antiretroviral therapy which can reduce the risk of a mother living with HIV passing the virus to her child to below five percent and about how children are being left behind in accessing treatment.

The troubled actress is currently living in London

Troubled actress Lindsay Lohan claims her controversial stint on Oprah Winfrey’s reality show left her little choice but to relocate overseas.

Lohan, who is currently staying here, talked about it in an interview with the Britain’s Telegraph to promote her upcoming gig in a London production of drama Speed-the-Plow.

The 28-year-old, says her OWN docu-series, which exposed her alcohol relapse, alleged miscarriage and many emotional meltdowns on the small screen last spring – made her a target in her hometown of New York City, reports contactmusic.com.

“After the Oprah show it was kind of hard for me to be in New York,” she said. “There started to be paparazzi, and I didn’t have that in New York in the beginning… Every time I left my house, they were at the corner,” she said.

She also criticises a judge’s decision to sentence her to community service at an LA morgue for violating her probation in 2011.

“It was “f***ed up and inappropriate,” she said.

“Because a lot of other people were meant to do it, and they were like: ‘No, they can’t handle it. Lohan can.’”

It’s New York calling for the Running Shaadi.com actor

Actor Amit Sadh, who trained as an actor in New York’s The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, will head to the American city to audition for the prestigious Actors Studio. A members-only institute, Actors Studio has tight membership criteria and boasts of having names like Marlon Brando, Kevin Spacey, Bradley Cooper, Paul Newman and Julia Roberts on board.

Amit, who is currently preparing for his upcoming audition, is set to fly to New York at the end of this month. He will be performing a short skit from his idol – the legendary Raj Kapoor’s movie Mera Naam Joker.